大太平洋垃圾带威胁着夏威夷的海鸟种群

大太平洋垃圾带威胁着夏威夷的海鸟种群

Flying into the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Midway Atoll appears out of the vast blue Pacific as a tiny oasis of coral-fringed land with pristine white sand beaches that are teeming with life.

中途岛(Midway Atoll)飞抵夏威夷西北部无人居住的岛屿，在广阔的蓝色太平洋中，它是一片珊瑚环绕的小绿洲，有着原始的白色沙滩，那里充满了生命。

But on the ground, there’s a different scene: plastic, pollution and death.

但在地面上，有一个不一样的风景：塑料，污染和死亡。

With virtually no predators, Midway is a haven for many species of seabirds and is home to the largest colony of albatross in the world.

中途岛几乎没有捕食者，是许多海鸟的避风港，也是世界上最大的信天翁群体的家园。

But Midway is also at the center of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast area of floating plastic collected by circulating oceanic currents. The Hawaiian Islands act like a comb that gathers debris as it floats across the Pacific. A recent analysis found that the patch is accumulating debris at a faster rate than scientists previously thought.

但中途岛也位于太平洋垃圾场的中心，这是一个由循环洋流收集的漂浮塑料的巨大区域。夏威夷群岛就像一个梳子，收集漂浮在太平洋上的残骸。最近的一项分析发现，这块补丁积累碎片的速度比科学家之前认为的要快。

Midway is littered with bird skeletons that have brightly colored plastic protruding from their decomposing bellies. Bottle caps, toothbrushes and cigarette lighters sit in the centers of their feathery carcasses.

中途岛到处都是鸟类的骨骼，它们腐烂的腹部突出着色彩鲜艳的塑料。瓶盖、牙刷和打火机坐在它们羽毛状的尸体中心。

AP Photo/Caleb Jones

“There isn’t a bird that doesn’t have some (plastic),” said Athline Clark, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s superintendent for Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which Midway is part of. They “fill their bellies up with plastics instead of food and eventually either choke or just don’t have enough room for actual nourishment and perish.”

美国国家海洋和大气管理局(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)负责帕帕哈瑙莫库阿基亚海洋国家纪念碑(Papahanaumokuakae Marine National Monument)的负责人阿特琳•克拉克(Athline Clark)说：“没有一只鸟没有塑料的。”他们“用塑料而不是食物填饱肚子，最终要么窒息，要么就是没有足够的空间来提供真正的营养，然后灭亡。”

Sharp plastic pieces can also perforate their intestines and esophagus.

尖锐的塑料碎片也会穿透他们的肠子和食道。

Papahanaumokuakea, which quadrupled in size under President Barack Obama in 2016, is the world’s largest marine conservation area and was inscribed in 2010 as a UNESCO mixed World Heritage site.

Papahanaumokuakea是世界上最大的海洋保护区，2010年被联合国教科文组织列为联合国教科文组织列为世界遗产。

“Papahanaumokuakea is both a biologically rich and culturally sacred place,” Clark said. “The Hawaiians call it a place of abundance, or aina momona.”

克拉克说：“帕帕哈瑙莫库阿卡是一个生物丰富、文化神圣的地方。夏威夷人称之为富饶之地，或艾娜·莫莫纳。”

But circulating currents now bring an abundance of plastic and other trash from all around the Pacific Rim to Hawaii’s beaches. The debris ranges from tiny microplastics that nearly every animal in this marine ecosystem ingests to huge fishing nets that gather plants, animals and other debris while bulldozing across fragile coral reefs.

但现在，环流将大量的塑料和其他垃圾从环太平洋沿岸带到夏威夷海滩。从海洋生态系统中几乎每一种动物都吞食的微小塑料微粒，到在脆弱的珊瑚礁上推搡时用来收集植物、动物和其他碎片的巨大渔网，这些垃圾无所不有。

“The estimates are that there’s about 57,000 pounds of marine debris that washes ashore within this part of the archipelago annually,” Clark said.

克拉克说:“据估计，每年约有5.7万磅的海洋垃圾冲上这片群岛的海岸。”

AP Photo/Caleb Jones

And it’s not just the seabirds that are harmed by ocean plastic. Endangered Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles can die while entangled in plastic nets. Sharks and other apex predators eat smaller fish that feed on microplastic. Whales drag fishing line and buoys behind them during their long migrations across the world’s oceans.

受到海洋塑料伤害的不仅仅是海鸟。濒临灭绝的夏威夷僧海豹和绿海龟可能会死于塑料网中。鲨鱼和其他处于食物链顶端的食肉动物捕食以微塑料为食的小鱼。在它们穿越世界海洋的长途迁徙中，鲸鱼会在身后拖着钓鱼线和浮标。

It’s important to understand the relationship between the oceans, marine life and humans, Clark said.

克拉克说，了解海洋、海洋生物和人类之间的关系很重要。

She shared a Native Hawaiian proverb: “Ma o ke kai pili ai kakou.” It means, “The ocean connects us all.”

她分享了夏威夷当地的一句谚语：“Ma o ke kai pili ai kakou”。意思是，“海洋连接着我们所有人。”